So I'm in Northern Virginia (Arlington/Falls Church/Fairfax County Area) and the storms just rolled through...knocked out our power again. There are huge trees down all around our area, including one that's blocking our street.

I hope Dominion will be able to get the power back on relatively soon. Last time (week before last) it was out for almost 18 hours.

Anyone else in NOVA without power?

Edited to add: our power is still out, and the earliest Dominion is saying we might be restored is 7:00 tonight. They’re working on a lot of outages in our area, but it’s miserably hot and humid today. At least the basement is still relatively cool.

Two women tried to pass a fake $1,000,000 bill in a Dollar General.

Source: MSN

Link: https://www.msn.com/en-us/money/companies/two-women-get-caught-trying-to-use-a-fake-1-million-bill-at-dollar-general/ar-BB1fPo7l?ocid=finance-verthp-feeds

Excerpt: According to WREG Memphis, the incident occurred at a Dollar General store in Maryville, a suburb of Knoxville. The two women reportedly tried using the bill to pay for numerous gift cards, and, when confronted, they claimed they not to have known the bill was fraudulent.


An employee, however, easily identified $1 million as fake, according to UNILAD, because $1 million bills do not exist in U.S. currency. The employee reportedly called authorities around 10 a.m. to report the "suspicious incident."

Of the two women, 39-year-old Amanda McCormick is the suspect who appeared to originally be in possession of the fake bill. When officers questioned McCormick, she explained that she "received the one million dollar bill in the mail from a church." However, she "could not provide the church information."

Another day, another mass shooting.

Source: Washington Post

Link: https://www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2021/04/16/indianapolis-fedex-shooting-airport/

Excerpt:
By
Teo Armus
April 16, 2021 at 1:34 a.m. EDT
Multiple people were shot late Thursday at a FedEx facility in Indianapolis, police said.
Just after 11 p.m., Indianapolis police officers responded to reports of shots fired at the facility at 8951 Mirabel Road, police said early on Friday.
As officers arrived, they came in contact with an active shooter, said Indianapolis Metropolitan Police Officer Genae Cook. The suspect then apparently killed himself, Cook said.

This only works in the movies, folks:

https://www.al.com/news/2021/04/florida-driver-smashing-gate-jumping-drawbridge-caught-on-video.html

I couldn't agree more!

Source: Mother Jones
Link: https://www.motherjones.com/mojo-wire/2021/04/john-boehner-to-ted-cruz-go-fuck-yourself/
Excerpt:
By Abigail Weinberg

It was reported earlier this year that, while recording his audiobook, former Speaker of the House John Boehner (R-Ohio) occasionally randomly veered from the script to tell off Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas). Specifically, he told Cruz, “Go fuck yourself.”

Now, Axios released the audio. It’s real, and it’s spectacular. Listen:

“Freedom,” Boehner says, “means you’re free to reach as high as you want no matter where you came from, even if you’re a little kid sweeping a bar out in southwest Ohio. Take it from me. You’ll never know where you’ll end up. That’s freedom. I’ll raise a glass to that any day. P.S. Ted Cruz, go fuck yourself.”

I guess they figured she would just be too much of a temptress, all sweaty and covered in fish scales and goo.

Full Title: Church barred woman from fishing trip because male pastor wanted to avoid ‘false accusations’ of sexual misconduct
Source: WaPo
Link: https://www.washingtonpost.com/religion/2021/03/31/church-fishing-trip-sexual-misconduct/
Excerpt:
By Marisa Iati
March 31, 2021 at 10:11 p.m. EDT

Always the outdoor enthusiast, Emily Smaniotto was thrilled to enter a church raffle for a bow-fishing trip. But her excitement faded quickly when she was told that an insurmountable issue stood in the way of winning: her gender.
“I remember the word ‘Really?’ coming out of my mouth,” Smaniotto, 27, said. “And I heard another woman say, ‘Are you serious?’ ”
The issue, church leaders said, was that a woman’s presence on the trip could lead to a bogus accusation of sexual misconduct. The guest pastor who raffled off the opportunity was simply protecting himself, they said.

It's going to be a long haul in Alabama to get everyone vaccinated.

Source: Washington Post

Link: https://www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2021/03/27/alabama-covid-vaccination/?itid=hp-top-table-main

Excerpt: By Stephanie McCrummen
MARCH 27, 2021

UNIONTOWN, Alabama — Eight weeks had passed since the first vaccine doses arrived in Alabama, and now the shots were finally coming to Uniontown. Workers were setting up chairs in the cinder block community center. The mayor was on the way. A caravan of doctors and nurses and supplies was speeding down Highway 5 past fields of cows and rusting gas stations, and when it pulled into the parking lot just past 8 a.m., the line was waiting, a continuation of the waiting that had been life for the past year.

“Connell!” yelled a volunteer, handing out registration forms. “Bennett! Watson!”

“Here I am!” said an elderly woman bumping her walker across the gravel.

Note: I went to high school with Tony back in the day. I thought he did a great job with the 2010 oil spill and managing that, but I think he's gone off the rails here. I'm honestly tired of wearing a mask, after a year, but I'm more tired of a 9/11's worth of deaths every damn day because people won't wear masks or social distance.

Source: WALA-TV, Mobile, Alabama

Link: https://www.fox10tv.com/news/baldwin_county/orange-beach-mayor-responds-to-criticism-over-comments-about-pandemic-politics/article_bd1613bc-8d55-11eb-8c15-83b343d46c36.html

Excerpt: ORANGE BEACH, Ala. (WALA) -- Orange Beach Mayor Tony Kennon has responded to some criticism over comments he made during a recent radio interview.

Kennon talked about what he calls "pandemic politics," saying, "you can't trust the numbers."

He made the comments on "The Jeff Poore Show" on FM Talk 1065.

This article in the New York Times discusses climate change and the very real effects in an area I know and love--the Outer Banks of North Carolina. Full disclosure...I'm a property owner there, but not in Avon, so I understand the concern as much as the people who live in Avon, Buxton, and other places. And yes, I pay real estate taxes in Dare County. I'd be willing to pay more to solve the problem there, and I have a hard time understanding people who don't want to pay higher taxes to help themselves.

https://www.nytimes.com/2021/03/14/climate/outer-banks-tax-climate-change.html?action=click&module=Top%20Stories&pgtype=Homepage

Excerpt: Tiny Town, Big Decision: What Are We Willing to Pay to Fight the Rising Sea?
On the Outer Banks, homeowners in Avon are confronting a tax increase of almost 50 percent to protect their homes, the only road into town, and perhaps the community’s very existence.

The last known lynching in the US took place in Mobile in 1981. Have we learned nothing since then?

(ETA: I graduated from USA in 1980)

https://poetsandquants.com/2021/03/10/3-b-school-profs-at-south-alabama-u-suspended-over-racist-photos/?pq-category=business-school-news